1. παραδείγματος ἕνεκα looks like an adscript (possibly on ὁρίζει: to indicate that there were many other topics in Theophrastus’ book), which has found its way into the text.
4. For the distinction between poetry and prose cp. Aristot. Rhet. iii. 3 (1406 a) ἐν μὲν γὰρ ποιήσει πρέπει γάλα λευκὸν εἰπεῖν, ἐν δὲ λόγῳ τὰ μὲν ἀπρεπέστερα, τὰ δέ, ἂν ᾖ κατακορῆ, ἐξελέγχει καὶ ποιεῖ φανερὸν ὅτι ποίησίς ἐστιν, ἐπεὶ δεῖ γε χρῆσθαι αὐτοῖς, and iii. 4 (1406 b) χρήσιμον δὲ ἡ εἰκὼν καὶ ἐν λόγῳ, ὀλιγάκις δέ· ποιητικὸν γάρ.
5. οὐκ ἀπὸ σκοποῦ = ‘haud ab re.’
The minute variations in word-order between F and P are not usually given in the critical footnotes. But the fact that P places (here and in [164] 17) the verb at the end of the sentence is noteworthy.
18. Cp. Virg. Georg. iv. 334-44; Aen. vii. 710-21; Milton Par. Lost i. 351-5. 396-414, 464-9, 576-87 (especially 583-7); and see Matthew Arnold (On translating Homer: Last Words p. 29) as to Hom. Il. xvii. 216 ff.
26. Dionysius (here as elsewhere) doubtless intended his remarks to apply to the lines that follow his quotation, as well as to those actually quoted.
27. ἐν εἰδόσι: this expressive phrase is as old as Homer himself (Il. x. 250 εἰδόσι γάρ τοι ταῦτα μετ’ Ἀργείοις ἀγορεύεις). It occurs also in Thucyd. (ii. 36. 4 μακρηγορεῖν ἐν εἰδόσιν οὐ βουλόμενος ἐάσω).
ἅπας γάρ ἐστιν ὁ κατάλογος αὐτῷ τοιοῦτος καὶ πολλὰ ἄλλα, ἐν οἷς ἀναγκασθεὶς ὀνόματα λαμβάνειν οὐ καλὰ τὴν φύσιν ἑτέροις αὐτὰ κοσμεῖ καλοῖς καὶ λύει τὴν ἐκείνων δυσχέρειαν τῇ τούτων εὐμορφίᾳ. καὶ περὶ μὲν τούτων ἅλις.